Tuesday, April 29, 2008

A Day of Work in Singapore

Dammit I'm so glad I'm back to working in Malaysia again after two weeks in Singapore. The sad thing is that the grass is always greener on the other side so when I'm back here I miss working there just a little bit.

Let me tell you how my two weeks in Singapore was like (after I had my surgery).

In the morning, I wake up and when I open my eyes the first thing I see is this.I drag myself out of bed and head straight to my computer to check my early morning e-mails. Sometimes I get e-mails late at night from some of my colleagues who work really really hard.

Then after I'm done taking a quick look at my mail I head straight to wash up and to call a cab to take me to the hospital.Yes when I was there after my surgery, I had to go to the hospital every morning to see the doctor.Some days I call a cab, but some days if I'm lucky, Ming will come by and pick me up in his convertible.Let me tell you this, sitting shotgun in a convertible with a guy driving makes you feel like a chick.

I wait in this waiting room of bored people for 30-45 minutes to see my doctor.I must say I am quite impressed. In Malaysia when I go to a private hospital here, I'm often made to wait 1 and a half to 2 hours.

In Singapore, the longest I had was 45 minutes.

That's the way it should be!!! Good time management!

After I'm done with my morning check-upIhead straight to the our Singapore office to get some work done.

Now here's the thing... work for me can be quite unpredictable. Sometimes I spend the day in the office or sometimes I go to some client meetings or press conferences or launch events at Suntec City Convention Centre.One of the days I went to an event by one of our clients which collaborated with the Singapore Government for some family day event that saw me go with Ming to board one of these amphibious vehicles for a tour around Singapore by water.

I saw things like the Singapore Flyer,

the upcoming integrated resort (casino),and the Merlion.

While the tour guide was narrating to the group of us advertising and media people, none of the Singaporeans on board seemed to be listening.

I had a phone call when the tour guide was telling us the story of the Singapore icon, the Merlion so I missed what she said.

I later asked Ming"Eh what's the deal with the merlion ah?"

And he said"Oh.. last time some prince or something came to Singapore and saw a lion that had a fish tail so he that's why the icon has been the merlion".Apparently that's totally not true.

Cherie, one of our Nuffnang team in Singapore who was with us told me that the fish on the lion was supposed to symbolize the humble beginnings of a fishing village that Singapore spawned from.

Now that made more sense than a half fish half lion creature.

After whatever meetings or conferences we will have in the morning, it's time for us to go for lunch. We meet all sorts of people for lunch.

On one of the days we had lunch with Dawn Yang at Singapore Island Golf and Country Club.

Ming would bring us in the club for lunch and some very minor camwhoring ensued.

Dawn is a pretty interesting person.

Ok at the lunch we were talking about cars and I don't know how we brought up the issue of an Aston Martin.

Dawn's eyes opened wide and she said"Ohhh I love the Aston Martin!!!"Surprised that she said that about the Aston Martin and not about any of the other cars we were talking about I asked her"What about a Ferrari?"

And her reply"A Ferrari? That's flashy... what are you trying to make up for?"

Ish!

Alright after that lunch with Dawn we headed to buy some cakes on the way back to eat later on

The Apple Crumble at SIGCC is unbelievably good and cheap too!

Now on the way back to work, Ming sometimes goes to pump petrol.

On the day crude oil hit $130, Ming stopped by to pump at a petrol station only to see a sign that says the petrol prices have increased and curse"KNN!! NA BEHHH INCREASE AGAIN !!??!? @#$@#$@%#"We head back to the office and continue work until late in the evening when we all get all tired and go home.

You know it's time to go home when the girls stop looking like this (all smiley and all)to having droopy eyes that almost close.So that's a day at work for me in Singapore.

In the 11th century A.D, Prince Sang Nila Utama of the Sri Vijaya Empire rediscovered the island. When the Prince first landed on Singapore's shores, he sighted a mystical beast which he later learnt was a lion. The Prince then decided to name the island "Singapura" which in Sanskrit means Lion (Singa) City (Pura).

The fish tail of the Merlion symbolises the ancient city of Temasek and represents Singapore's humble beginnings as a fishing village.